Heart of Fire
by NatureRocks411
Summary: Does he really have no heart and is it true that he really cannot feel any emotion? Her journey with Organization Member number 8 will help him discover secrets that were kept and that he shouldn't believe everything that is taught. AxelxOc
1. Bad Luck

**Before I made this story, I had to research Kingdom hearts just to know about Axel's personality. I wanted to make sure that I got his personality as close as possible, since In Oc pairing stories, some girls get over obsessed and make the character out of character. I don't really like that to be honest, so I tried my best.**

**I won't use anyone from the "Chain of memories" or the "Final Mix" games just in case you've only played Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 for the PlayStation2.**

**You can find videos of kingdom hearts (is also where I researched Axel) in **

**. It's a very useful site if you're a kingdom hearts fan, and also good to know more about the story. **

_**As for the main characters name… Yes I used the name Rei again. I was too lazy to think of another name to use and the name "Rei" seemed simple enough since it was only three letters. I don't go by Rei anymore, so don't worry for those of you who have read my Satoshi story. I go by Mari, since that really is my actual name, but the "A" is pronounced longer. Gotta learn to love your real name, ya know?**_

**Heart of Fire**

_**Chapter 1: Bad Luck.**_

_They always said that nobodies have any hearts. With no hearts, they don't have any sort of feeling towards anyone or anything. Could that really be true?_

_Organization XIII seems to be more "Human-like" than the regular mindless nobodies called the dusks. Not having a heart… does it mean that a nobody can't have any sort of feeling, or are the nobodies of Organization XIII different. Maybe they don't have hearts, but they are living so, they can have emotion, can't they?_

_How is it possible for a living thing with a mind of its own to not have emotions?_

_So many things are left unanswered, and there are even more things that most people don't even know about. _

_Back when Organization XIII was whole, maybe a certain person had feelings, but since he was a nobody, he kept thinking that they were fake._

…_or maybe… he grew a heart in knowing such a strong feeling…_

The people around me always said that those guys in black long coats were bad. They told me to stay away from anyone who wore these mysterious black coats. I don't really know where all these rumors started. Many say that it was just a legend and to ignore the rumors, but a lot say that the legends teaches us a lesson and we shouldn't ignore the rumors.

So many stories circled my town of these horrible people with no hearts. I was told that these people had no feelings, and would kill anyone in their path, with not a single feeling of guilt. I actually believed the towns' people at first; though I thought it was silly. What kind of person would kill people at random anyway? I remember being so scared; I would run from anybody wearing even a black sweater on a winter's day. For a while, the color black had scared the life out of me.

Three years have passed since I was twelve years old, and I have gotten over my fear of the color black a bit. I still had the fear of seeing anyone in a black hooded coat. I held that fear until a certain something had changed my point of view on certain things.

"Remember, stay away from any strange people!" my mother called out to me as I walked out the front door to my house. That must have been the tenth time since I opened the door!

"I know mom," I replied hastily as I hurried out. "You've been telling me that ever since I was little. Do you actually think that I could forget now?"

"I know honey," my mom reasoned with me. "But I just get worried. There are always rumors around the town about these strange people in black causing havoc all over our town. I don't want you to get in trouble."

_They're just rumors,_ I thought to myself as I crossed the street to get to the path that led to the street market. _Anyway, it's not like those rumors could actually be true._

I've heard too many untrue rumors in my life; I've started ignoring the most ridiculous rumors. Though the rumors about these suspicious people in black coats sounded quite ridiculous, this was a HUGE rumor that circled our town, so I couldn't ignore such a big thing. Almost everyone in the town has said that they have seen these strange people who cover their faces with hoods. Even my neighbor says that she saw one guy once.

I took a glance at my list of things to buy. I had to buy mostly produce for what my mom wanted to cook tonight. I had to buy some fruits too. I decided to buy strawberries. I'm sure that my mom wouldn't mind me picking with fruits I wanted, as long as our family was eating healthy.

Taking a turn to my right, I looked through the narrow alleyway. I made sure that this was the right short-cut to the street market by looking for that same crack in the corner of the entrance. I found it, and started to walk in the alleyway. I have been using this alleyway ever since I was little.

When I was little, I played in here, pretending to be running from something. I always liked running in here when I was little because I liked the rush of the air in between me and the wall of the alleyway. Of course as paranoid as my mother was, she told me I couldn't play in here anymore. Back then, she said that she has heard yet _another_ rumor about one of the black hooded guys had come from here.

I don't know what she was talking about though. I've been using this alleyway every time I had to go to the street market. Nothing in the fifteen years of my life ever showed up here. Sometimes I felt like ignoring those paranoid rumors completely, but something in my mind told me that I had to be careful where ever I went.

The alleyway was pretty long. It seemed much shorter in my memories, but then again, my mom would always stop me when I got to the end of the alleyway. Still, I've taken this path many times, and now it seemed strange that it seemed even longer than all those other times.

As I walked I couldn't help but have this _strange_ feeling that _something_ was following me. Stealing a glance behind me, I saw that I was just paranoid. There was nothing there.

"_Come on, Rei! Don't let those paranoid rumors get to you!"_ I told myself as I quickened my pace. I looked back again and there was still nothing. I exhaled with relief as I kept on looking back while walking slowly.

I _wish_ I could say that there was nothing there when I looked back in front of me, but then I would be lying to myself and my mind. I abruptly stopped my fast walking pace and stood there. I was staring at about three of these strange black _things_! Freaky glowing eyes shot straight at me as I tried to figure out what these creatures were. Then, right before my eyes, those things sunk right into the ground! I could barely make out the moving shadows on the ground. Once I finally caught sight of them, I could see that they were now racing towards me, taking a zigzag path to get to me.

My mind wouldn't let me move. I wanted to run away so badly, but somehow my brain wasn't fast enough to register the fact that those creatures were chasing me. My legs wouldn't move, and at this moment I thought I saw my life flask right before my eyes.

"Come on!" I shouted at my legs. My right leg moved a centimeter, then another. Yes! Come on! Just move enough to take big steps and run away!!

I tried to turn and run, but instead, I tripped on my own clumsy feet and fell back to the ground. That was it. There was no chance for me. My fate was to die at this very moment, and there was nothing in the stupid alleyway to change my destiny to die.

At the same moment when I had these thoughts, I thought I had gone blind and the creatures had already killed me. I saw black right in front of me, thinking that I had already blacked out. My thoughts of being dead were immediately interrupted when a person had stepped out of this oval shaped black thing right in front of me. He was wearing an _all black coat_. It was _hooded_ too. The hood was covering his face, so I couldn't see if he was a friendly person or not.

A shiver when up my spine as I tried to get up, and took a stumbled step back. Were those rumors really true? There was a person in a hooded black coat, and my mind couldn't make up the decision to run or to watch what would happen next. Would he really kill me with no mercy-like the rumors stated?

Curiosity took over my mind, which could have been the stupidest decision I had made in my entire life of living. I stayed there to see what he would do. He didn't turn his attention to me, but at the creatures that were now going to reach him first instead of me. These strange weapons appeared. They were like chakrams with spikes on the edges. It reminded me a bit of the shurikens in those ninja movies, only much bigger.

It only took me a second to stand in shock again as the weapons lit with fire. Real, burning, fire! It took another second for him to kill all the creatures, and nanosecond for me to figure out it was time for me to go. I ran towards the exit I came from, hoping to get there in time before he noticed that I was even there. I was lucky that those creatures didn't kill me, now I hope that the luck would stay with me and let me escape from the mysterious hooded person.

Not quite balanced, I tripped on my feet again, and hit the concrete ground hard. I let out a yelp and watched the blood drip from my right knee. From the corner of my eye, I could see that the mysterious guy had heard my yelp and turned to face me. Wasting no time, I got up on my feet again and headed for the exit. All I wanted to do was to get out of danger, and fast.

I heard him shout something before I reached the exit. The words" Hey! Have you seen…?" I couldn't hear the rest as I turned the corner. His voice faded away as the street got crowded. No one noticed me panting as I slowed down to a fast walk.

What was he asking? Did I see the creatures? Obviously I saw them. They were right in front of me before he came and killed them! Did he lose something, so he was asking me if I found it?

It didn't really matter anymore. There was no way that I was going to turn back just because I wanted to know what he was asking.

As I walked the longer pathway to the street market, I had to wonder. What in the world _were_ those strange thins following me like that? Why did those _things_ decide to show up in the alleyway? Where did that guy come from, and how did he manage to get there so fast? Did anyone in Twilight Town know about those creatures? If that person came from somewhere, how did he get there so fast?

I sighed as I looked at my watch. My mom was going to overreact when I get home. I was taking way to long to get some groceries. I just knew that when I got home, I was in for a whole bunch of lecturing. I know she only means good, but she shouldn't worry about me so much. Then again, I just got attacked by strange creatures, so maybe she did have the right to worry a lot.

"Mom is soo going to ground me if I don't get to home on time." I told myself. My voice was drowned out by the noise of the people around me. I counted my munny as I looked around for the right line. My mom only gave me my munny in 1's. She told me it was a waste to not use them even if they were only 1's, so I had a lot here in my plastic bag. I emptied it out into my hands as I neared the produce line.

My eyes popped open as I stared at the ridiculously long line in front of me. Was this the right line?! I looked at the sign which felt like a mile away from the back of the line. Yes, this was the right line! Why was it so long?! I thought that people didn't like fruits and vegetables, so why was this line longer than she could have ever imagined?

This was not turning out to be a very good day for me. This was the first time I actually felt like I had the worst luck here in twilight town. May be it was karma or something. Since I didn't listen to my mom, I was cursed to having bad luck for a few years of my life.

I sighed deeply as I looked once again to the long line. This couldn't be karma. I didn't do that much bad did I? The only bad thing I could possibly think of was just disobeying my mom and taking a different route. That couldn't have been that bad, could it? Then again, I disobeyed her every time I went to the street market just to make my path faster and shorter.

Waiting in line for thirty minutes is really tiresome, especially if you have no one to talk to. Still, there were about ten people in front of me in the line. It wouldn't be long before I got my turn in the line. I felt even worse for the people behind me. They seemed so far away. The line stretched out even farther than I could see!! It looked to be about a billion people right behind me, waiting in the same line!

The first person in line wouldn't hurry up, and I started to get ticked off. Ugh. It still looked as if I would be here another thirty minutes.

Bored out of my mind, I started to listen to all the conversations all around me. One guy's voice caught my attention because it was so edgy and stood out of the crowd. He sounded very irritated, but tried to keep his calm. I looked back to see who was talking.

"Have you seen my friend around? He's got short blondish hair and blue eyes."

The first thing that caught my eye was his over-sized black hooded coat. He reminded me of the guy who was in the alleyway, instead this guy here didn't wear his hood. Why wasn't anyone else seeing this? Why didn't they run away from him? I thought the rumors around were started by _these_ people, so why didn't they listen to their own rumor and run away?

This guy didn't look exactly the same as the guy the alleyway though, or at least I didn't think he did. It was hard to tell because the guy in the alleyway had his hood on, but this guy didn't. I could see his long red spikes as they went strangely backwards on his head. He has pastel green eyes. He didn't _look_ like the guy in the alleyway, but I could be wrong. No one around me had a strange reaction like I did, so maybe this guy couldn't be any harm. He was just probably just cosplaying one of those guys just for fun.

"Nope, sorry! Haven't seen anyone like that around here." A voice interrupted my thoughts.

I turned to the front of me again, to see that luckily the line had moved when I wasn't paying attention to it! I looked at the munny in my hands happily. They were all there.

"Excuse me." I heard an irritated voice mutter. He _might_ have sounded like he had good manners, but don't think he really did. Instead of waiting for me to move, he tried to push himself through the crowd and ended up knocking me over so hard, the change in my hands flew right out.

I watched in horror as all my little pieces of munny fell to the ground with a clanking sound. What was worse was that the line continued without me! The people in line just covered up my space, not caring that I was just knocked right out of the line! I thought that they would at least wait a few seconds for me to get up, but I was wrong. To actually believe that there were nice people in the world was nothing but a mere imagination, was the way I was feeling right now.

Now I knew this wasn't karma. I couldn't have done so many bad deeds to deserve this. This was my officially my bad luck day. I felt like crying. Here I was sitting on the ground with my munny spread all over, and nobody was paying attention to me. They were all ignoring me, or they were just too lazy to help a person gather all her munny. Nobody was doing a thing.

"S-Sorry, I hit you pretty hard there." It was this guy with the red long spikes. He bent down to pick up the munny that was around him.

"No, it's okay… you don't have to pick them up." I could hear my voice crack as my eyes welled up with tears. No one would really care anyways. "It doesn't matter really matter to me anyways." He looked at me surprised as I walked away slowly. It was probably because I felt a tear roll down my right cheek.

I guess I am officially a nobody in this town.

As I expected, my mom had lectured me at home about telling her about me being late and being responsible and check the time when it is time to go. She gave me an earlier curfew, and on top of all that, she said that I had to get a job to help pay for the munny I had lost back at the street marker. Obviously, when I told her the story, I left out the parts about the alleyway, the creatures, and the guy in a black coat.

I couldn't believe it. My life had turned from good, to horrible in just one day.

I placed my head on my light blue pillow and lay down on the left side of me body. I stared at the darkness through the sliding door to my balcony. It looked scary out there and I couldn't see anything.

My fingers played with a loose piece of thread that was connected to my bead sheet. I started thinking. This afternoon, those people didn't even look at me. It was if I wasn't even there, or they couldn't see me at all. That was just cruel. They didn't even think of helping me, so they just ignored me.

Well, there was _one_ person who had helped me, but he was the _only_ one who had helped me. I don't think he really counted though since he _was_ the person who knocked me down. It was still pretty kind though.

I saw something zoom past my balcony's window. A bit suspicious, I got off my bead and headed towards the balcony's doors. It was hard to see anything through my window was it was pitch black outside. I couldn't see anything at all.

Then, something very strange happened. I saw two yellow orbs floating out of nowhere. Because I wanted to get a better look, I turned the knob of the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind me. My mom always complained about wasting the air conditioning by leaving the door open for a long time. It was then after I had closed the door, I realized that I had forgotten the key to my door. I wiggled the door knob, but there was no hope. I was now locked outside, on a balcony that's two stories high, and the only way out was to jump. I couldn't do that without having any serious injuries.

I felt my eyes welling up with tears for the second time today. Did I mention that this was _the_ worst day of my life of fifteen years?!

The yellow floating orbs caught my eye once again. My tears blurred the image, but I could see that the yellow orbs were floating not very far from me. It was on my balcony. I saw these yellow orbs as they started to multiply. It turned to four, then eight, then sixteen, then twenty-four. Wondering what they were, I hastily rubbed the tears from ym eyes.

These were NOT yellow orbs! They were _eyes_! These were the eyes of those _creatures_ I saw this morning! "Crap!" I shouted out loud as I tried to get back inside the house, then I remembered that I was stuck here with no way out. "You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted at the air as I backed away from those creatures. I felt pain as on of them got to close to me and a claw scratched me leg. What in the world did they possible want from me? Why were they bothering _me_ of all the people in this town?!

It wasn't long before I had no place to go. This time I _knew_ there was on way out of this. I was going to die a very dreadful death. I immediately shut my eyes as one of the creatures leaped towards me. I hoped that this thing could kill me quick and painlessly.

I waited and waited. Geez! This thing was in midair when I closed my eyes! Why was it taking to long to kill me already?! Too scared to open both of my eyes, I opened my right eyes only a slit.

"Pesky heartless… don't know where they all come from." I heard a strangely familiar voice mutter.

My eyes widened. All the creatures were gone! I wasn't shocked by the creatures disappearing; I was more shocked at the hooded person whom had killed them. I looked at his weapons. They were the same chakrams as the guy used in the alleyway.

Fear overtook me as looked back to me and began to speak. "Well, what do we have here?" He chuckled. "Someone must be forcing me to meet you, or it may just be a strong coincidence that this is our third time meeting today."

_Third?_ I thought. This was only the second time we met. The first time I met him, it was in the alleyway.

I watched him suspiciously as he loosened the string on his hood. As soon as hood fell, I instantly recognized him. He was the same guy who had bumped into in the market street_ and_ he was the guy who killed the creatures in the alleyway!

"What's with that look?" He asked me with a smirk on his face. I took a step back, feeling threatened by the tone of his voice. Looking at the expression on his face, he chuckled again. "Instead of giving me that look, you should be thanking me, ya know."

"Why? Because you saved my life twice now?"

"Yeah… that and because it took me a while to pick up all these...I'm not even sure if this is all of it." I watched as the tossed me a plastic bag filled with something.

"What's this?" I asked dumbfounded as I stared emptily at the clear plastic bag in my hands. It was all my munny that I had dropped back at the street market. _Why…Did he spend all that time picking up my munny?_ "Th-Thank you!" I managed to stutter out through my shock. I NEVER thought that he would actually have the thought to pick up all my munny!

He chuckled once again. "No prob…Was pretty much my fault anyway. Didn't wanna just leave all that munny on the ground like that."

"Your k-kind hearted." I spoke with a shy voice. I was trying to express how grateful I felt, but I was never really good at expressing my feelings that much.

I heard him laugh, but it wasn't exactly a kind laugh. It was more like a sarcastic laugh. "That's got to be a joke."

"No, I'm serious."

"I am too." I studied his expression, unable to figure out his emotions. "How can I be kind hearted without having a heart?"

_I didn't know what he meant by that, but I could tell by his expression that he was dead serious._

**End of chapter one: Bad Luck**

_**Next chapters: **_

_**Rei forgets that she is locked out of her house, but luckily the one named "Axel" helps her get back in with a peculiar portal type thing. She starts to wonder how much things she DOESN'T know about this. Why don't the other people in Twilight Town know about this?**_

_**Meanwhile, she starts to wonder why the people in Twilight Town don't seem to notice her anymore, besides her mom. Every time she talks to someone, it's like she's not even there!**_


	2. No Heart?

_**Hello there! I really apologize for the late update for this chapter! I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't stop at a certain chapter like the rest of the other stories that I have had so far (mostly in ). So, Right now, I am almost finished with chapter 7 of this story, and I will try my best to type as fast as possible for the other chapters.**_

_**I write my stories on notebook paper because I can't always go on the computer and have time to type my story if I have a new idea for it. That's why it might take a while for me to put new chapters up**_

……_**..eh…. I don't really think I'll get that much views anyway……..but to the people who do like this story, I really thank you for your support.**_

**Heart of Fire**

_**Chapter 2: No Heart?**_

"No Heart?"

My thoughts reverted back to the rumors. Those mysterious people with no hearts would kill anyone caused them any trouble or ticked them off. They would kill the people with no mercy, and single feeling of redemption for their actions afterwards. My fear was rekindles as I stared at the black coat he wore on his body. Was he going to kill me any second, just like the rumors stated; or will he just let me go this once?

Here I was acting on my fears again. I wasn't thinking clearly with my head. The rumors didn't make any sense at all in my mind. They said that these "no hearted" people were horrid and didn't care at all, but only for themselves. _**This guy**_ is completely different from those rumors, or at least it seemed that way to me. Instead of killing me, he basically saved my life. He had one act of redemption – which was the time when he collected my munny and gave it back to me.

"Isn't that impossible?" I blurted out without thinking of my words first. At this moment, I didn't really want to know what his answer was going to be. The thought of people with no hearts really _**scared**_ me.

"Heh." He grinned at me, as if he knew that I was going to ask a question like the one that I just asked. "There are many things that you don't know about in this world."

Didn't know about? What in the world did he mean by that? There can't be that much things that I really don't know about can there, besides the stuff I learn in school?

"Anyway, gotta go now. If I stay here longer, the Organization will start to get suspicious of me." He turned from me, but a second later, he turned his head to face me. "Oh, and if you see a kid named Roxas running around here, tell him Axel wants to talk to him. You can't really miss him. He's wearing the same thing as me except he's a blondie."

"Um…sure" There were more people like him?!

He immediately opened up his portal like thing, and stepped through.

"See ya." His voice was the last thing I heard before the portal like thing disappeared.

The events that just happened were not processing through my brain. I decided to get some rest. This was probably a strange dream anyway. My idea of this being a dream was shattered into a billion pieces as I bumped into my door and felt the sudden pain on my forehead. Oh no! I forgot! My door was locked and here I was with no key in hand! I cursed silently in my mind by opening the door by shaking the door knob. No progress.

"Gah!" I screamed in frustration. I glanced at the edge of my balcony. NO! There was absolutely **NO WAY**I was going to jump off just because I was locked out! Besides, the night was pretty nice. Maybe I could wait out here until my mom wakes up.

I shivered at the passing breeze. Now **THAT** was super cold! I would catch a cold or something if I slept out here!

My nails scratched my door's window as I looked at my warm nice bed. It must be warm in there. Out here it was starting to get colder each minute, or at least it felt like it.

I heard laughing behind me. There he was again. I t was the one called Axel. "What do _you _want?" I was surprised on how irritated my voice sounded. I don't like being made fun of.

"I was going to give you more info on my friend Roxas, but I guess I came at an interesting time." I studied the amused look on his face.

"…forgot my stupid key…" I mumbled while trying to wiggle the knob of my door. Still no progress.

He laughed harder this time. I crossed my arms and waited patiently for him to stop. "But then again, that would surely explain the reason why you didn't go in your house when those pesky heartless came. Although, they still could have gotten to you even if you did run in your house for shelter."

"Uh… heartless?' I questioned him, confused.

"Those creatures you saw earlier." He explained. "Anyway, I've got an easier way to get inside your house without knocking yourself unconscious."

I looked at his outstretched hand suspiciously as he gestured me to follow him through the dark portal he had made. Was that thing safe for a normal person like me to go through?

"What's the problem?" He asked me. "Never seen a hand before, or do you prefer to stay here until the sun comes out?"

I felt the cold breeze again. I realized that if I _**had**_ preferred to stay out here, I would probably freeze to death before my mom found me in the morning. Knowing that either way there was no place to sleep on this balcony, I took I hesitantly took hold of his gloved hand.

He pulled me to him sp that there was no space between us, or so it seemed that way in my point of view. I was never comfortable with the opposite gender.

"Sorry. I don't know how the realm of darkness will react to you since you obviously aren't made of darkness." He explained.

I didn't understand what he was saying. What was a realm of darkness?

We stepped through his strange portal. I was amazed! This place looked pretty huge though Axel just took a pretty straight path. He placed his hand out in front of him and made an opening. Through the opening I saw my room. My heart was beating with excitement as I got closer to the safety of my bedroom.

"I can hear your heart beating." Axel spoke with his face still looking at the path in front of him.

Now that he just mentioned it…I could even hear my own heart beat in this place. Now I felt even worse. My heart speeded up, knowing that he could tell how I feel just by hearing the beat of my heart. Why couldn't I hear Axel's heart beat? I tried to concentrate but I couldn't hear his heart beat, despite how close I was to his chest.

_He had no heart beat__._ I couldn't hear any other heart beat but mine. _Was it really true that he had no heart?_

We stepped out of the portal, or the realm of darkness, and into my room. I examined everything to make sire that I was in the right place. I was!

"Thank you so much!" I cried out as I ran and threw my arms around Axel and hugged him.

"No prob. Also I think I should warn you. You've been chased by the heartless twice now, so that might be a problem later on. If there is anyone else dressed like this, besides me or my friend Roxas, you have to careful." He took a step back into the realm of Darkness. "And by the way…. I never caught your name." his voice echoes, but before I could say anything in response, his portal closed up.

What a crazy day I had just had! It didn't really matter. I was happy now. I have my munny, so I could no tell my mom that I had just left my munny at home rather than just lost all that munny. Not that I'm a fan of lying or anything like that! It was just that I didn't want her to think I was irresponsible. Then again, it was irresponsible of me to just have left the munny lying there on the street.

I looked at the clear plastic bag full of the colorful diamond shaped coins. Snatching the plastic bag, I started to dump all of the munny out and onto my bed. I watched as the blend of colors spread out on my bed. It _looked _as if all my munny was there. I didn't really mind if only a little of it was missing, but by the looks of this pile, it didn't even look like some of the munny was missing at all. I just wanted to make sure that if my mom counted the munny, she wouldn't question my explanation of leaving the munny at home.

Minutes later, I got done counting all of the munny. _**I couldn't believe it**_**.** I recounted my munny again to make sure that I didn't make any mistake, but the amount I had counted before was the same. There was actually_ more _munny than what I had before! Suddenly, all the rumors I heard about these mysterious people in black coats shattered into pieces in my mind. I just couldn't believe those rumors after this act of kindness.

Actually, it was the only act of kindness I've had, or maybe just remembered.

"Thank you…" I whispered under my breath as I drifted off into slumber…..

_I had a dream that night, in which I did not understand. I was standing there right in the middle of a forest._

_These white strange things were chasing after me, and I had no idea why. I was alone, and I could tell that their goal at the moment was to end my life. I could feel it in the aura. My feet were stuck to the ground, so I had no way to escape. There was no place to go._

_I called out someone's name, but I couldn't hear myself call out the name that I longed for. I called out his name again, but still I had no voice. They were coming for me and fast._

_Knowing it was no use to call "him" anymore; I closed my eyes and braced for the pain, and prepared for my death. There was no point to struggle anymore when there was no solution at hand. Maybe it was destiny for me to die this way._

_As my last minute prayers were answered, __**he **__came for me. Killing the white things so easily, he went to me, doing something unexpected – embracing me. In my dream, I could see that my face was filled with joy as I saw him. The fact was, in my dream I couldn't even see __**his**__ face._

_I wanted to know who this was. I wanted to know who HE was. Who was this person who had made me smile so big?_

Before I could even find out, I awoke back into the world or reality. My heart was racing, even if I was asleep.

Who in the world was that person? Would I ever get to meet him? Who was I fooling? It was only a dream. As if he could actually be real. I was an invisible person here in Twilight Town. If I was in trouble like I was in the dream, I don't think anybody would consider helping me, especially with those creepy things chasing me.

I had to keep on reminding myself that it was just a dream. Nothing about it could actually be real. Just a dream…just a dream…just a dream…

It was morning, and new fresh day. Yesterday might have not been a very good day for me, but now I have a fresh start!

"Mom, I'm going out!" I called out as I opened the front door.

"Wait!" My mother called, hurrying over to me. "This might not be such a good day to go out." She looked at me with a strange expression in which I could not read. "It might rain." She told me.

"That's okay." I spoke as I reached out for an umbrella from the coat rack. "I'll just bring this. See? Problem solved." I stepped through the front door and stole a glance at the sky. It might rain? Was that what my mother had said to me?

The sky was completely clear, with no hints of rain. My mom must be extra paranoid today. I'll have to be careful. Maybe I _**should**_ stay home today to keep her calm. She might even become even more overprotective if I spend an amount of time out today.

No… I felt like going out today. I should just go somewhere else instead of the street market today. That place did seem like the place for my bad luck.

As I headed for the sunset station, I passed by the sandlot. Seifer and his gang were there, as usual. I started to hasten my pace. They weren't exactly bullies, quite the opposite, but they weren't exactly the type of people I liked to hang around. They always hung around the sandlot preparing for the upcoming struggle battles.

Instead of going to the Sunset Station, I decided to do to the Tram Cammon part of town. I could ride around on the train a couple of times to calm me down. I wanted to forget everything about yesterday. I wanted to forget about those strange creatures. I didn't even know why they were chasing me. Did I have something like food that kept them coming to me? I only a little, wanted to forget about the one called Axel, but I found that I couldn't forget about any of the events that had happened yesterday.

There was also something unique about Axel that kept me curious about him, yet he had this small aura that scared me a bit. Besides the obvious fact that he could hold burning chakrams, he was different. I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know why I didn't hear a heart beat from him. If what he said about having no heart was true, then how could he survive without a heart, and why didn't he have a heart in the first place? If there were other people with no hearts just like him, were they meaner like explained to me? Were they considered living beings?

He was nice to me, and I couldn't forget that at all.

I bumped into someone who came from this huge scary crack in the wall. The crack in the wall, from my knowledge, led to an abandoned mansion, so I really wonder why he came from there. I didn't really pay attention to the blond kid who passed by me. Instead I was staring at the forest. It strangely looked similar to the path that was in my dream. Now that was scary.

I wasn't a big believer that your dreams could teach you a lesson, but this was just plain creepy. I felt a chill up my spine as I walked pass the crack. Something little tiny voice in the back of my mind told me to stay away from that crack, and it was best I listened to that little tiny voice.

I didn't notice the blond guy until he was already almost out of my sight. Was that the kid that Axel was looking for? He has blond hair _and_ a similar black coat to Axel's. The blond kid made a turn a disappeared from my sight for good. It was too late to go after him now, and I was too lazy to try to catch up with him when He was so far away. Oh well…. Axel will find him soon enough.

I thought it was immensely strange that there were no people waling around. This place was usually more crowded. The danger radar in my head was going off. Maybe I should have followed that blond kid after all. He _was_ the only one walking around here and I didn't feel comfortable being all alone in this empty space. Having company would have been fine for me.

Relief flooded over me as someone I knew walked out from one of the small stores. Not a very close friend, but it was better than being alone. "Olette!" I called as I ran to catch up with her. "Hey Olette, wait up!"

It was really strange when she didn't even turn to my call. She just kept on walking, as if I weren't even there. "Um, hey, Olette? Are you mad at me or---"My hand went through her shoulder as I reached out to tap her? No! This wasn't good at all!

"Hey!" I screamed ass I waved my hand in front of her eyes. No response came to me. What in the world was happening here?! Why couldn't she see me?!

Now, I was really _**freaking out. **_I started running to every person who was in the stores.

It was the same outcome for everyone else too! Why was this happening to me?! It was if I wasn't even here!

I didn't know what to do. This time I really was invisible to them, or could they just not see me? I fell to my knees as the people walked through me like I was a ghost that no one could see. "Why is this happening to me?" I heard my weak voice ask out loud.

"Hey there, you okay?" _it was his voice again. It was the one called Axel._

I didn't answer. I was afraid of what was going to happen. Ever since _he_ came into my life, nothing has been normal. I didn't want this to happen to me. Let this happen to any other person, but just not me! I just wanted to live a _**normal**_ life as a _**normal**_ person!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an outstretched gloved hand reach out to me. It was Axel's hand offering to help me get back up on my feet. I stared at his hand for awhile. I really felt more safe sitting here on this cold cement floor.

"What's the matter?" I looked up at his face, only to see that familiar smirk as yesterday.

"Why do you keep on finding me when I need help?" I asked, still glaring at his hand, then turning away from his hand. "Why isn't it somebody else?'

He gave me a strange look as his hand went back to its rightful place by his side. "I dunno." He answered. "Like I said before; maybe it's a strong coincidence." I watched as he shrugged his shoulders. "Or may…like destiny or some weird stuff like that."

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his theory of destiny. "I don't believe in destiny. I believe people make their own future, and change their own future." I explained, my butt feeling the cold cement floor.

"Oh yeah? So, how's that workin' out for ya?"

I realized how stupid I must have sounded. Here I was sitting on the ground because no one could see me, and I was talking about making my own future. It was pretty hard to change my "destiny" when no one in town could even see me to make my goal possible.

"Not very good, I guess." I mumbled, tracing my name on the ground with my fingernail.

He gave out a short, but light burst of laughter at my response. I glared at him for a second, but then he reached out his hand to me again – this time with a real smile on his face instead of a smirk. I took hold of it and he pulled me up. At this moment, although I was a bit scared of him, I was happy that he could see me. I could tell that I was scared of him because my heart was now racing. Oh well…. At least he could keep me company despite my fear of him.

I could feel my heart at it sped up even more. My heart pounded against my chest so hard, I was afraid that Axel could hear it. For a moment I _thought_ he could hear it because of the look he was giving me. A huge grin was pasted on his face as he held onto my hand to make sure I was balanced.

"Wh-what i-is it?" I asked immediately letting go of his hand. I could feel my heart slow down as I did.

His grin was replaced with a look of confusion. He looked bewildered as he asked the question, "What is what?"

"What's with the smile on your face?" I asked suspiciously.

He opened his mouth to give me an answer, but his voice was replaced with the sound of someone whistling.

"I thought you came here looking for me at first, Axel, but now I can see that you just wanted to flirt with girls here." Axel looked behind him.

"Roxas?" I could see the surprised look on the red head's face.

I watched as the blond kid grinned at Axel. So this was the Roxas he was looking for? He _was_ the guy I bumped into earlier near the crack in the wall.

Axel left my side and headed towards his friend. Maybe it was time for me to go now. I didn't know what to do though since people still couldn't see me. If I went home, would my mom even be able to see me? If she couldn't, will I still be able to go inside my house? Could I still go through my daily life if no one could see me?

How long could this last?

And why did my heart beat fast when that red head was around me? There had to more explanation than just _fear_…

**End Chapter 2.**

_**Next Chapter: I start to feel lonely, but Roxas and Axel help keep me company so I don't die of loneliness…or at least they think I would because I have a heart. Anyway…I guess their company is better than nothing. There is no explanation so far and I just don't know what will become of me.**_


	3. Feeling Lonely

_**Hello there! I know it's been a while. I actually finished writing out this story **__**two years ago**__**, but I've been too lazy to type this out. I've also done A LOT of editing since I finished this story. Once I started re-reading this story I noticed that there were a lot of loose details that just didn't make sense at all.**_

_**Honestly, I don't think this story is good at all. I find it quite boring, but it's been bugging me that I have the rest of the story written out on paper, but I haven't put them online in a couple of years. I am only updating because I want to get this story off of my hands -.-.**_

READ IF YOU DARE!

**I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or Axel. I do own my OC, Rei.  
**

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_**Heart of Fire**_

**Chapter Three****: Feeling Lonely**

Those two were still talking to each other when I decided to leave. I didn't know what was happening to me, but I _did_ want to know _why_! Now this was _the_ weirdest thing that has _ever_ happened to me. I mean seriously, being invisible to people? What kind of messed up _world_ could I possibly live in?

As my dreary life dragged on, I got more and more depressed as I could see that the _only_ people who could hear me were these two guys dressed in _black_. Greeaaat… after all those rumors _and_ after I decided not to listen to those ridiculous rumors, something like _this_ happens.

There was no other way I could even feel more left out. It was frustrating really. People kept on walking right through me, making me feel as if I was some sort of ghost. Now I know how ghosts feel when they can't be seen (if they really are real). Well, nothing is impossible, and this situation just proved that theory.

I walked away from them two friends as they chattered on and on about something I didn't understand.

"Hey!" I heard him call after me. It only comforted me a _little_ to know that the only people who could see me weren't gonna kill me any second.

Instead of running to make up for the distance between us like _normal_ people do, Axel used his portal-thingamajig appearing right in my path. Not expecting him to show up _that_ close in front of me, I yelped to show how surprised I was. "Umn, sorry," I muttered looking at the ground beneath me, "Still not used to that portal thing you use." I gave an apologetic look as his friend called to the both of us from behind.

"Do you know _why_ no one can see you?" Roxas started out by asking me.

"No offense or anything," I began, "but I really don't think I'd be in this situation if I _knew_ why my whole town can't see me." As I finished talking, I tried to dodge the people who were still walking through me. I huffed angrily at the "rude" people around me.

I could tell that Axel was really trying to hold in a laugh. His mouth held firm, but I could see the amusement bursting from his vibrant green eyes. Now on the other hand, his blond buddy didn't even _try_ to hold in his laugh! I shot my dagger eyes as he was too busy laughing at my frustration.

_Well it could have been worse, _I thought to my self. _Oh who am I kidding? This is already worse!_

"Look we're trying to help here." Axel explained placing a hand on my shoulder. Fear overtook me as my heart rate sped up. Feeling uncomfortable with his hand on my shoulder, I took a couple of steps away from him.

"Why aren't _you_ worried about not being seen? Is this_ normal_ for you?" I questioned them both.

"Well…" Axel ran a hand through his red spikes in thought, "No, it's not normal, but stranger things have happened in our lives."

I gave a perplexed look as I searched his face for more information.

"Look, I know it's all hard for you for you to absorb this at the moment, but Roxas and I have to go back, or else we're going to be in quite a lot of trouble…"

"I'll just go alone." Roxas interrupted. "We both don't understand why this is happening to her. Whatever_ they_ might be planning could just ruin our plans. The other members won't like that."

I didn't understand a world of their conversation.

"Yeah, fine, whatever. Just don't make them think that you've betrayed us. Some of them, especially Saix, are getting pretty suspicious every time you run away." I heard as Axel explained to his friend. "Be careful."

Roxas nodded in reply as he stepped through his portal and disappeared.

"So…" The red-head turned to me after his friend had left. "I guess you're stuck with me until we figure out what is wrong here."

"Well… it is a bit better than being invisible." I told him. No matter how scared of him I could be, I really _didn't_ want him to leave me here all by myself. Who knows- I could probably go mad and kill myself if I was left completely alone.

"Come." I stared in suspicion as he held his hand to me. "I'm just going to bring you back home. We can talk there."

I gave out a long dragging sigh as I took hold of his outstretched hand. What if I got home and my own mother couldn't see me at all?

This time I _tried_ to ignore the fact that my fear was taking over again, making my heart race. _Come on, _I told myself. _He's not here to kill you or anything! Stay calm, Rei._

I closed my eyes as we both went through his portal; and in no time, we were back, safe and sound, in my own bedroom.

"By the way, I have question for you." Axel spoke slowly, as if unsure of his thoughts.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Why is it…," he began, searching for the right word to use. "Why is it that every time I get closer to you, the rhythm of your heart increases in tempo?"

I felt as my face started to heat up. So he had can hear each time my heart speeds up? Does he know that I'm scared of him? What am I afraid of anyway? It's not like he'll kill me for being a little scared of him! How can he hear my heart? OHH! Here it was again- the unnatural things that I just can't seem to understand.

_Axel was still waiting for my answer…_

"I-I don't know." I managed to stutter out. Could heat my heart racing at this moment? I just hope he couldn't, but somehow I just knew he could.

"Hm, really? You really don't know?" His voice was immensely sarcastic, as if he already knew the answer to his own question.

"Th-that's right." I replied. "Anyway you should already know these answers. You've got your own beating heart."

He stared at me with a blank face that almost scared me pale. Axel had no hint of any emotion as he spoke the next sentence strangely slow. "Didn't you hear me before? I don't what it's like to have a heart because don't _have_ a heart."

I huffed angrily at his –what I thought to be- untrue explanation. "That's' impossible."

Axel didn't say anything. Instead, he took action by yanking my arm off and pulling me towards him. "Listen." He placed my head on his chest, and held it there with his unusually warm right hand. "Do you hear _anything?_ If you do, then I'll be quite surprised.

I couldn't concentrate on trying to find the beat of _his_ heart when my own heart was taking off in its own race. He was too close! My mind panicked as I tried to calm myself down.

"You seriously need to relax." Axel told me as he _poked_ my head. Yes… that will make me relax, NOT!

_Oh just shut up!_ I shouted in side my head. I closed my eyes tightly shut as I tried to drown out eh annoying babbling voice continuing to talk through my thoughts. I felt a small chill up my spine has his warm breath slightly brushed my hair.

I listened to the louder voice in my head and finally started to relax. It was easier than I thought considering I was afraid that this person could kill me any moment (talk about getting my mom's paranoid attitude…). I closed my eyes to help me feel calmer. I could have fallen asleep, but one minor thing kept me from the dream world I was on the edge of.

I couldn't hear it. I couldn't hear _anything_ from the spot where his heart is supposed to be. His chest was completely silent except for the normal sound of him breathing in and out. _It was true. There was NO heart to hear. _

No matter how hard I listened, I couldn't find a single beat of a heart…besides mine of course. I wanted to say something to Axel, but my mind had already slipped into the dream world, too late to turn back now. It was only _then_ when I heard _something. _One single soft beat barely audible. I knew it wasn't mine, but whose heart could it _be_ if Axel says that he doesn't have heart?

XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

_I had that dream again. It was frightening, and yet it comforted me. I still wanted to know who that person was. He had made me so happy…_

XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

I awoke that night feeling strangely warm. My room lights were on, but I could see that it was dark outside through the corner of my eye. If I had a mirror, I swear, I'd see my face turn a light crimson color. My head was still lying on his chest, and his arm was still around me. Something seemed different though. Something _was_ different. Axel's breathing was now slow and steady which basically told me that he had fallen asleep. Did he fall asleep right after I did?

This was so _**EMBARRASING! **_Had I really fallen asleep in that position? Then again, if Axel had fallen asleep too, then he couldn't have minded much. I wanted to know what in the world he was thinking so badly. Was he going to kill me or just leave me alone (like I wanted him ad his friend to)? It drove me to the edge just wondering!

When Axel shifted in his sleep, I realized that he was still holding me. I felt a bit suffocated as he tightened his grip. My mind couldn't make up a simple decision. Should I wait until he was awake, or should I just try to get him OFF me now? He DID look pretty tired, so I didn't want to disturb him…. But still…. I was uncomfortable like this.

I pried his arms off me and lightly lifted his head from me shoulder. He fell to his side, lying on my bed. He looked peaceful; and less stressed than I have ever seen him so far. I studied his face as he slept.

There was no emotion. His expression wasn't empty, but it was if he were deep in thought. I still didn't believe that it was possible to _not_ have a heart, but here was living proof.

I lightly placed my ear near his chest as he lay. My blood was pulsing through me, hot and fast as I got closer. Of course, I've never been near to something to dangerous. I still couldn't hear anything. There was no beat, no pulse, _**and no heart**__. __So it was true…_

I get up on my feet, exhaling in the process. Why did I always feel so _**scared**_ around him was I so scared anyway? He pretty good-looking, so why was I afraid of this _**thing**__**?**_

I stepped away from the sleeping Axel and headed to my bedroom door. I was surprised to see that all the lights were on in the whole house. I stole a glance at the nearest clock which read 1:03 a.m. was my mom still awake? At this time, she should be asleep by now.

"Where is she?" I heard a voice ask - the voice of my mother. It came from the living room. I walked slowly through the hallway, my steps dragging on the dark carpet.

"Mom?" I called from the hallway. I was too afraid of what lecture she would give to me this time. "I'm already home." No response came. _So she couldn't hear me either?_

_The living room was now in sight. _My mom was fidgety as she paced around the whole room. I stood at the middle of the room. It was obvious that she couldn't see me as she went _through_ me. I instantly felt like a ghost again.

"She won't be able to see you either. I don't think anyone in the world can. Hmm… maybe you don't belong to this world….." axel tried to explain to me, but I still didn't understand anything he was talking about.

He took my hand and we were back in my room within a second.

"This must be hard for you…" Axel murmured, his focus on the carpet instead of my presence.

"I'm just having a hard time being _invisible_." I told him.

"By the way…" he changed the subject abruptly to keep me calm about the current situation. "All this time, and I never got to know what your name was."

"It's Rei."

"Rei, huh?" He looked up, as if the ceiling at all the answers on it.

My room became silent as we both ran out of topics to talk about. It wasn't awkward silence, but more like peaceful silence; the kind of silence you feel that makes you want to go to sleep. I actually felt more comfortable with him in my room. I couldn't bare to be lonely. I just sat there on my bed, not knowing what I should say next – or if I should be saying anything at all.

The silence was interrupted as one of those black portals appeared. I watched as Roxas stepped out of the portal. "So you two finally awake/" he asked, with a grim smile on his face.

Axel gave his friend a bewildered look. I remember… I was the first one to wake, so Axel didn't know what awkward place we were in. My face reddened, but luckily my hair covered my face.

"What're you blabbering about now Roxas?" Axel questioned his friend. Obviously, Axel didn't remember anything.

While those two were arguing with each other, I tried to keep my heart from getting to a faster pace. I didn't want those two hearing my heart beat. The two weren't even paying attention to me, so I guess it was bit safe…. For now…

I looked out the window of my balcony, which was still pitch black. The only thing I could see was the blinking lights from some of the tall buildings in the distance. The scenery made me quite lonely despite the fact that there were two people in my room right now.

I zoned back in on Roxas' and Axel's conversation.

"Well, when I woke up, she wasn't even there." Axel explained, glancing at me.

I guess I missed the majority of their conversation, because for their next few lines, I didn't even know what they were talking about.

"Oh, come on. You know you liked it." Roxas grinned.

"Whatever Roxas. You know that we nobodies can't "feel" anything." Axel huffed angrily at his friend.

"That's beyond my point, Axel." Roxas looked confused for a moment as he stared at the floor.

There was no point in listening to their conversation; so instead, I went to sleep—leaning back onto my wall. _I had a dream… that dream again…_

Morning came faster than I wanted it to. I awoke to the sound of Roxas laughing. I realized that I was on my bed and I recognized the sunlight shining through my balcony window. Axel and Roxas were on my balcony laughing away… well, Roxas was at least. Had I missed a funny joke?

My mind was groggy as I tried to get up from my bed.

"Look who's awake!" Roxas called, walking from the balcony and towards my bed. Axel soon followed. He seemed a bit hesitant though.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up on my bed. How long was I asleep? "What were you two laughing about?" My words came out as a mumble.

"Well…" Roxas began, searching for the right words. "While you were asleep, Axel heard—"

"It's nothing!" Axel cut in abruptly, glaring daggers at his friend.

"M'kay." I muttered as I headed towards the hallway door. I was hungry—it was time for breakfast. Could my mother see me eating? I mean, I know no one can see me at the moment, but would my mother be able to see the food floating if I were to eat it? I giggled at the image of a floating piece of toast and my mother's confused expression.

The light and warm feeling inside me dissolved as I reached the kitchen and realized that no one was even there. That was strange. By this time, my mother would usually be awake. Maybe she was out to do some groceries. There was only a little bit of food, so she must have gotten hungry.

"Rei!" I heard Axel call for me.

I twirled around on my feet, reacting to my name being called out so abnormally loud. "Axel?" I didn't need to go to him—he reached me before I could even take a step. "Wh-what's wrong?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he immediately grabbed me and pulled me to him. We both went through his portal-like thing, and my kitchen's suddenly changed its scenery. We were now on a beach. A beach…. I don't ever remember seeing a beach in Twilight Town… Where was I?

"Axel, why did you—?"

"I can't explain now. They're looking for me and Roxas. I don't know what they'll plan to do with you if they find you." Axel explained, his face creased with worry lines. "Don't worry. I'll come back when I think you're able to go home." And just like that, he left me…here…on this strange island.

Just was so important that he had to leave me here?

"That was strange…" I heard a female voice come from behind me. She stood there staring out into the sunset.

"Huh?" I was used to being invisible for a while. It was a surprise and a relief that she could see me.

"Where did you come from?" She asked me while gazing out into the sea as if she was hypnotized.

"Oh… to be honest, I don't know." I sighed as I lay flat on my back on the warm sand. I really had no idea what was going on with my life at all.

"My name's Kairi."

"Rei~" I answered.

Axel sat there, with the rest of the Organization. They've been suspicious since Axel, along with Roxas, have been away from headquarters often lately. Roxas was pretty much a new member, so they didn't worry much about him; but Axel was a different story. He was the one in charge of getting rid of the useless members, and at this moment he had no important missions since Roxas was already trained.

"I just got bored." Axel gave his excuse. He sat on his high chair, keeping on a stoic face.

"And about Roxas?" A deep voice echoed from the highest chair.

"I don't know where he is." The red-head huffed while crossing his arms.

Axel worried about the two—Rei and Roxas. Roxas seemed awfully disobedient lately, and Rei was just an innocent bystander who could get caught in the problem. Rei was odd, and she would surely catch the attention of the Organization if they found out that she was the only one in Twilight Town who didn't freeze with time. Maybe she didn't belong in that world, but in a different world—that would be a good explanation for all the things that have happened to her.

Axel became worried. It didn't look as if the Organization would be letting their guard up any time soon.

**End of Chapter 3**

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_**So, I thought since is an Axel x OC story, I'm assuming that you are an Axel fan ^_^! Sorry for this random advertising, but this is my Axel blog:**_

_** ~axel-lover. tumblr .com (without the spaces) ~**_

**_It's filled with different Axel things, and if you're and Axel fan you might be interested ^_^. Plus, that's a good place to keep on contact with me. I almost never check this site... but I guess I really have nothing to check since it's been a looong time since my last update..._**

**_Again, it's your this story isn't really good. I'm warning you now, next chapter is quite confusing and doesn't really fit in with the story-line, so when I type that out, I'll try my best to make it make sense _._**

**_Goodbye for now ~_**


	4. The Beat of My Heart

_**I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but there are 11 chapters to this story and all of the chapters are around 3,000-5,000 words (about as long as the chapters have been so far or 8 pages written out on college ruled paper).**_

_**Again, this story is mostly only continued because I have already started this, and I want to finish typing everything out since I already wrote this whole story out by hand.**_

_**If you missed my warning last chapter, this chapter is quite confusing and really goes from topic to topic often… as I'm typing it out right now, I will try my best to make this chapter make as much sense as possible.**_

_**READ IF YOU DARE!**_

**I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Axel.**

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_**Heart of Fire**_

**Chapter 4: The Beat of My Heart **

Weeks after weeks I waited for him, and I honestly felt like everything was a lie. Why did I wait for him even though I had a feeling he would never come back?—I don't know.

Kairi seemed to do the same. She would tell me that she didn't know who she was waiting for, but she had the feeling that she was just supposed to wait. I didn't really understand her motives, but I didn't understand mine either. Why would she want to wait for someone when she didn't even know who she was waiting for?

It didn't matter anyway. At least I still had company while I waited on the beach of this island, so I was fairly satisfied. I was grateful that I still had company while I waited on the beack of this island.

I found the name "Destiny Islands" pretty funny, although "Twilight Town" seemed pretty odd too. The people here were nice, but all they do is stay in their houses all day. Many of them stay in town rather than go to the beach; the beach itself was pretty empty.

I started to wonder, what would have happened to me if Axel never brought me here to Destiny Islands? Would I have to stay and live here my whole life if he never came back?

It's pretty weird, but I think Kairi has been the closest friend so far. I didn't get out much back in Twilight Town since my mother was severely overly protective. I never really had best friends back in Twilight Town.

Even so, I feel really homesick right now.

I haven't had that strange, yet comforting dream, of Axel since he left me here. It might just be a coincidence, but I was starting to believe that nothing was a coincidence anymore. I felt empty—like my heart was a hollow log. I didn't understand any of it.

I've only known him for a short period of time, and yet I wanted to see him again—badly. I just felt comforted every time he was around me. I just wanted to see him—what that such a hard wish?

"You must be a devoted person." Kairi came up behind me, handing me sea-salt ice cream. "You come here every day. Who do you wait for?"

I licked the tip of the ice cream, feeling the salty flavor reach my tongue. "I don't think I'm supposed to tell anyone really…" He was part of something called Organization XIII, so maybe no one was supposed to know about them.  
"But _you're_ the devoted one. You don't even know what you're waiting for."

"I just know that I'm supposed to be waiting, but I just don't know what I should be waiting for."

I sat on the shore, watching the sun set. Another day was about to pass by ad he still hasn't come? Is there something going on with that organization group of his? How long would it be before I get to see him again? Will he even come for me at all?

"Come on." Kairi gestured to a nearby small house. "We should go inside before it gets dark. It's hard to see anything on the beach when it's pitch black.

I sighed as I got up and onto my feet. I guess he wasn't coming today. Maybe he'll come tomorrow.

The sun set pretty quickly, signaling that the cold weather would be coming soon. My eyelids grew heavy as they drooped. The world of dreams finally arrived at my doorstep.

_After weeks and weeks, something very peculiar happened—I had my dream again. There was that same forest and that same person who rescued me. Something was different this time though. I could see the guy's face. I could see who rescued me from those white creatures._

_It was Axel._

_He was the one who rescued me._

_He was the one embracing me._

_He was the one who made me so happy._

_It was Axel._

"Axel…?" I thought I heard myself mutter. I was half asleep, but something didn't seem right. Something was different. "Axel…" I muttered loudly this time.

"Shhh. Not so loud. I'm right here." In my brain, I heard a voice—his voice. It was but a whisper. Axel! Axel's voice.

My eyes literally popped open. His face was the first thing I saw. I was in my own room and in my own bed back in Twilight Town. Before my mind could think, my body reacted and I threw my arms around his neck. I held him in a hug. "Axel!" I exclaimed happily.

"Rei… Not so loud." He told me once again. "I don't know why, but I think people here in your world can see you now. You mom can wake up at any time." He calmly explained.

"You didn't come for a long time!" I tried to whisper, but my voice came out in squeaks.

"I know." He calmly pulled out of my hug. "Sorry. I t seems that Roxas ran away. Things have been hectic at the Organization. His expressions… they held many emotions… but that can't be possible because he has no heart, right?

I somehow liked this feeling—the feeling of my heart's rate speeding up. My heart… was reacting to him right? _Fear_. Is that what it really is? How… how can I like this feeling if it's something like fear…?

He was near me again and my heart was racing away like it normally does. I didn't want to let go of this feeling. I wanted this feeling to stay with me as long as possible. I knew that once Axel left again my heart wouldn't beat as fast as it did now. I didn't want him to go—not after seeing him after a long time.

"Will you have to go back soon?" I blurted out. I might have looked desperate, but honestly, I _was_ desperate.

"Not necessarily…" he spoke. "…but…"

No! Not a "but!"

"I'll have to go back to the organization tonight." He played with a few strands of my hair. "I just came to finally bring you back home. Anyway, I don't want your mom to freak out just in case she sees me on your room in the morning." Axel chuckled, probably imagining me mom walking in to see this strange person with a hood coat in her daughter's room.

I guess it was a pretty decent reason to go back. I had hoped that I would have more time to spend with him though… Suddenly, I felt whole again. It was as if my missing puzzle piece was finally found under a messy bed, and it now fit perfectly.

Axel brushed a strand a hair from my eyes. The touch sent my adrenaline rushing through my body. "Your heart still beats fast around me." He spoke with a smile on his face.

Maybe he already knew what it meant… I wanted to know what he was feeling. I knew I couldn't—even if he had a heart, I couldn't.

Axel gave me quite a shock as he neared me. My heart nearly exploded out of m chest at his sudden random action.

He kissed my forehead.

I could still feel the warm spot as he pulled away. "Don't worry." He told me. "I might some back tomorrow is the organization isn't hovering over me."

"Okay." My voice faded as he disappeared once again.

Falling asleep for the second time this night, I had a different dream this time.

_I was in my own in my dream. Axel wasn't there with me, but someone who wore the same hooded coat was talking to me._

"_Don't be silly." He reasoned with me. "He is a Nobody. Nobodies have to hearts if you haven't known that by now. Nobodies don't feel anything—they don't have any sort of emotion. There is no way he would feel the same about you. You're just wasting your precious time alive."_

"_That might be how you feel," I began, "but I think that there is something special that you're clearly missing in him. There is a good reason to why he betrayed your people, and your organization."_

My short dream ended with the sound of laughter in the background.

"Rei! Breakfast is ready!" I heard my mom's voice call from the kitchen.

I awoke with a start being greeted my sun streaming through my window. It was bright, but I no longer felt homesick like I did on Destiny Islands.

Destiny Islands…

Whatever happened to Kairi? Would she notice that I was gone? Would she even remember me at all? Would she think that I was kidnapped? I was here in my own house where people could see me again, and yet it made me feel lonely.

"Hi mom." My voice unusually cheerful, but my mother didn't notice.

"After you're done eating, you have to do some groceries, okay?"

This seemed familiar… Déjà vu much? Didn't my mother same the same thing the day I met Axel?

I immediately took a piece of toast and finished it within a few huge bites. I headed toward the front door.

"Remember, stay away from anyone suspicious." My mother called as I headed through the door. Yep, this was starting to feel like déjà vu. Really creepy.

Learning my lesson from the last time, I did not take the alley. I didn't want to run into those creatures again at all cost.

There it was again—déjà vu. This was really starting to creep me out. The line was long—really long. Even if I did come here earlier than the last time, the line looked to be about the length and even with the same people. Was this a huge coincidence again, or was everything really repeating itself? If everything was repeating itself, I wouldn't be surprised to bump into Axel again.

I lingered over to the fruits and vegetable line. This was strange. The people really were the same as before. Didn't they already do their grocery shopping before? Why would they shop for all the same foods again?

Déjà vu, déjà vu, déjà vu. It happened again. Someone rammed into me, knocking me to the ground—my munny flying everywhere.

"Rei?" He asked surprised. He—being Axel. I could tell by his expression that he was just as confused as I was. "Why…um… how… sorry?" he struggled for the right words to find.

"Déjà vu?" I asked him as I began to pick up my munny around me.

"Y-yeah." Axel spoke, still shocked that he managed to knock me over a second time.

Something seemed different this time.

"Oh, honey! Are you okay?" The lady who was behind me in line asked. I was surprised. Last time no one even noticed me! Was this replay what was supposed to happen that day?

"Yeah." I bowed to her sympathy. The lady was about to lecture Axel about being careful, but he was already on the ground picking up my munny, which only took him a few seconds. He handed me the munny and ran off. Maybe this organization group Axel hung out with was keeping an eye on him right now.

"You should stay away from those people." The lady spoke, guiding me back to the line. "They cause a lot of trouble around here. It really scares me that the fellow who ran away knew your name!" The lady nodded as the line continued, this time with me following along.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what kind of trouble have they caused?" I wanted to know what kind of group this organization was and Roxas and Axel didn't seem to fit the rumors.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Well, I've heard the rumors, but from what I've seen, these rumors can't be accurate, right?"

"Your parents should inform you more! This may be a town with nice people, but those people aren't very friendly. They've done quite a few kidnappings, I believe. And they steal munny too!"

"Kidnappings?" I asked, my voice rising. "Then why weren't these kidnappings reported?"

The lady just shrugged. "We can't report people we can't see. They always cover their faces, of with that fellow who was just here as an exception. It's pretty unclear, but one moment they're there and the next they're gone. It's as if they don't even live anywhere."

I still didn't get why Roxas and Axel weren't like the others. Axel even saved my life three times already. Maybe they were just acting nice?

I didn't have much time to think. I saw them. Them, being the rest of the organization. There were only about five of them and they were walking through the middle of the street market. They had this vibe around them that you did NOT want to mess with. It was like they had a bubble around their whole group. If you went too near that bubble, something bad was definitely going to happen to you.

Everyone around me was just staring, some with fear and some with curiosity. The townspeople were talking pretty loudly, but the hooded people were also talking loud enough for me to hear their conversation.

"Axel is getting restless." A deep voice spoke.

"We don't know what he is up to. We have to keep an eye out for him." Another voice answered.

"He'll stop at nothing to get his friend back. He is not worth being trusted when he's acting on his own!" A voice reasoned back at the other two.

"Patience! Once he finds out that he can't get his friend back, he'll have no where left to go but to the organization."

"And if he doesn't?"

"What else do we do with traitors, of course? We eliminate him."

I don't know if anyone else saw, but after they got done mumbling to each other, they all opened their portals and stepped through. They disappeared.

"Oh! Those fellas are nuttin' but trouble! If they're looking for one of their friends, they could at least not make a fuss over it!" the lady told me.

I was really listening to all her complaining. I was more worried about Axel. Who was Axel looking for? Was it Roxas? My worried mind would not go away.

My turn in the line came quicker than I thought it would. I quickly bough the groceries and hurried home. I hoped that Axel would be their waiting for me and to explain why he suddenly ran away from me when we met at the market. I probably already knew that the organization was looking for him. I wanted to know if he was okay.

It would kill me inside out if I never got to see Axel again, but at least it would be better than Axel dying.

I shook my head to get all of the unnecessary thought out. I took the groceries and rushed home. There were many things that I didn't understand.

"Rei!" My mother hurried to my side and ushered me hastily through the front door.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"I heard from a reliable source," she paused to catch her breath, "that _those_ people came to the street market."

"Reliable source?" I asked, perplexed. How in the world did my mother get her news to quickly? I swear, I was literally sprinting home! Great, now I had to deal with my psychic mother too. My life was already complicated! "Nothing really happened. They didn't really hurt anyone…"

"So you're not hurt?" My mom asked as she inspected my body for any injuries. She exhaled the breath that she was holding as she could find no injuries. "Thank goodness…" she mumbled.

"Mom?"

"No, it's nothing." My mom got back on her feet. I shot her a confused look as I headed towards my room. Why did I feel as if everyone was hiding something from me? No one was explaining anything. Was it because they thought I already knew, or were they protecting me from the truth?

The door to my room slowly squeaked open and I saw Axel standing right there in the middle of it.

"Are you okay?" He asked, mimicking my mom's actions and examined me for any injuries.

"Um," I took a small step back to keep my personal space. "Why is everyone asking if I'm okay?"

"It's because the Organization came." Axel explained, brushing a strand of hair from my eyes. "If you haven't noticed yet, they aren't exactly the nicest people in the world.

I ignored my pounding heart and concentrated on Axel explanation.

"Hate to break it to you, but those rumors floating around your town aren't all fake. In fact, I think they're all true." Axel rubbed his chin in thought.

"Uhhh…" I didn't know how to answer that. "Does that mean you're gonna kill me any second?" I have no idea why that just came out of my mouth. I just remembered a rumor heard I a few years back.

It was awkward as I watched Axel examine my expression with confusion. Oh boy… now I felt horrible stupid. Why in the world would he kill me any second after asking if I had any injuries?

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Did I mention how stupid I was? Oh crap… my heart was acting up again. I did not want Axel to hear it.

After what seemed like hours (but only seconds) of him staring intensely at me, something peculiar happened.

Axel laughed. He was basically roaring with laughter. He bent over as if his stomach ached with laughter. I was mystified by his sudden outburst laughter, but not entirely surprised.

"Are you serious?" He asked in between gasps.

I watched over as he hunched over again to give one more final laugh. He tried to calm himself down, but his face still had a small grin. I could tell that he was trying to hold in his laughter.

"Rei? What's with the noise? Are you okay?" My mom asked from downstairs.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I called back in a panic. "The T.V. was just too loud!"

"Oh, okay."

I sighed with relief. She believed me.

"I'm sorry." Axel apologized, his laugher now slowing down into a chuckle. "I couldn't help myself." He ran a hand through his long red spiked, giving me one last exhale, signaling the end of his laughter session. I was a bit happy to see him so happy. My question, honestly, was pretty stupid.

I felt my face heat up. How embarrassing!

"I-It was a stupid qu-question. I shouldn't have asked." I stammered through my red face.

He just smiled at me in reply.

**End of Chapter 4  
**

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_**I was pretty hesitant typing this out… there were random romantic parts I just cut out because I thought to myself "How in the world can they be that close when they've only known each other for a short period of time? This is unrealistic!" I'm not so sure if that was a good idea, but I'll probably make up for that later…**_

_**What I mean by this is: the point of reading an AxelxOc story is mostly for the fangirls, and the romantic parts are what make a fangirls like stories, right? I feel like I'm kind of wasting my time trying to make them fall in love realistically, but then again I have to stop myself—this is a fanfiction, right? Above that, stories on the internet usually aren't very long; therefore, I won't have to worry about trying to be all that realistic… I'm not trying to write a novel, I'm trying to write fanfiction for fangirls…. Right?...**_

_**Also, I want to apologize how this chapter went all over the place, especially since these chapters are long. If you zoned out while reading this, you probably lost part of the story.. ehehehehe…..**_

_**Sorry if you've wasted your time reading my thoughts… ANYWAY…. The next chapter will be updated in about a week… maybe longer because these long chapters are a pain to type out…**_


	5. No Feelings

_**Okay…I lied…. This wasn't updated in a week -.-… I'll be safe and say I'll update the next chapter in a month XP. I have such lack of motivation… I'm starting to wonder how in the world I had all that time to handwrite each chapter when it takes soooo looong to type it out. Maybe I'm just lazy.**_

READ IF YOU DARE!

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_**Heart of Fire**_

**Chapter 5: No Feelings.**

I didn't think that I'd ever laugh like that ever since Roxas disappeared" Axel explained. "So thanks for that unusual question."

"Um… You're welcome. I guess." Okay… this is oddly strange.

My heart froze as I saw his smile beaming at me. Fear? No? Then what was this? It couldn't be fear. I was being ridiculous. I liked that smile of his. It was like looking at the surface of the sun; it warmed me up in the inside instead of the outside like the sun does.

"_They_ keep on saying that I am a 'Nobody.'" His whisper sent chills down my spine. "_They _say that we Nobodies have no feeling or emotions because we have no hearts…" his voice faded as he got lost in his thoughts. Was he trying to tell me something? "…but…" he continued, "It's hard to believe that I don't have a heart around you and Roxas."

Here was going at it again… saying things that I don't understand…

I felt the butterflies in my stomach swarm madly around as Axel slowly traced an index finger down my cheek. Who were _they_? Didn't he say that he couldn't have emotions? That sure didn't seem like it when he was laughing back there. I just know that having no emotions was impossible. Axle didn't act like he had no emotions. Besides, how can a living being like him have no emotion?

Then again, what do I know about this topic? There could be a trillion things out there that I never knew about.

"You're pretty quiet." Axel spoke, probably to break the awkward silence that was between us. "But your heart is pretty active."

I didn't really care that Axel heard my heart. My heart was always racing around him, so he probably thought that it was a normal thing for me.

I know how, but I fell asleep (and it seems like I've been falling asleep a lot lately). Axel had left to do some business right before I fell asleep. zI had a few thoughts running through my mind before sinking into the darkness of dream world, but one of them stuck out more—I didn't want to lose him…not again.

_Again and again; every night I have the same dream. Every night, I could feel my emotions growing stronger. It scared me. I couldn't help it. What would happen if he didn't feel the same way about me? I became to fear my emotions and like them at the same time. I became worried._

Morning came too soon for me to enjoy it. I was still awake, but I kept my eyes closed. Was Axel gone? More than anything, I had the strong urge to see him. I'm so pathetic.

"Are you trying to fool me? I can tell that you are awake."

I looked up at the ceiling as my eyes popped open at the sound of his voice. He must have gotten here before I woke up. Axel!

"Your heart rate slows down when you sleep, but when you wake up, it gets faster." He explains to me as I sit up on my bed.

"There was something in his expression that I didn't understand.

"When did you come back? Were you here all night?" I questioned him.

"I came back maybe a few minutes before you woke up. Did you know you talk in your sleep…not that I can understand your random mumbling and muttering…?"

"What? I talk in me sleep?" Man… I really am pathetic!

He only chuckled in reply. "You get pretty tired easily. I was trying to explain something to you, and yet you fall half asleep before I could finish."

I looked at him with my best apologetic look. I was really good at interrupting people, wasn't I? Why do I keep on embarrassing myself in front of him?

"I'm sorry." I apologized, my head hanging.

He grinned as if he had just told a joke to himself in his head. "It's nothing big anyway. I'm sure you weren't ready to understand all of it anyway. You don't need to know."

What did he want to tell me? Was it important? No, it must not have been if he said that it was "nothing."

"I'd better be going now." He told me as he opened his portal. "But I'll see you soon." With that, he stepped into the black portal and disappeared.

So that was it? He was just here a couple of minutes, and he's gone again? An empty feeling came back as a stared at the blank walls of my room. I should probably go to the doctor today. That way, maybe I'll be diagnosed with strong infatuation and maybe they'll get me some medicine that will cure me of this strange condition.

There was no way my feelings could be (gulp) _love_. Almost every adult tells me that true love is impossible to find when that person is just a young child. I actually believe them on that. I was just a teenager who was strongly infatuated with the guy who had saved my life three times. Any teenage girl would admire a guy who saved her life. I'm sure there are other girls out there—maybe there was even a girl in that organization of his that perfect for Axel. I was just a teenager.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection in my mirror as I glanced that way. My hair was a mess and sticking around in all kinds of directions! And I actually looked like this front of Axel? Come to think of it, this is what Axel was probably grinning about before he left.

I guess I wouldn't help but laugh at myself. I looked like a monster. Ugh. I was just lucky that my mirror didn't crack at the sight of my face. I snatched my brush from my dresser and started to comb the fur balls out from my hair. It wasn't easy, especially since strands were seriously tangled together as they were super glued together.

"Ouch!" I yelped as I yanked my brush. That didn't help at all!

After spending some time on my tangled hair, I headed down stairs and greeted my mother. Good thing for me, see seemed in a pretty good mood. She didn't even remind me of the "hooded people" as I headed out the door. That was a big shock, considering she had been reminding me for almost my whole life. I had a feeling this was going to be a pretty good day for me. It was a strange feeling, but I felt as I could trust it.

I had no idea what to do today. Axel was gone, I had already bought the groceries, and I really didn't have any close friends to hang out with. Wow… I really need to get a life someday. Maybe this wouldn't be a good day after all…

I stepped out into the sun and felt the soft light warm my pale skin. There was a fine breeze today and it unusually beautiful. These kind of beautiful days only come one season in a year—spring. It was that happy season when plants start to grow and the light snow melts ever so slowly, leaving behind the color of the flowers that were starting to bud.

I cleared my thoughts and realized that I didn't realize where I was walking! I was at the Tram Cammon. Maybe I should go to the Sunset Station today. I haven't been there in a while. Ever since the "seven wonders" rumor my mom heard, she didn't think it was safe at all. I, on the other hand, didn't believe any of the rumors one bit. Some of the rumors that have roamed around this town could be true like the rumor of the "hooded people," but not all of them can be true—especially if they were pretty ridiculous like the "seven wonders" rumor.

A blond caught my attention—a familiar looking blond. I recognized his short spiky hair. He wasn't wearing his black organization outfit this time though; it looked as if he was wearing normal clothes. He blended in with the rest of the people here in Twilight town.

"Roxas?" I called from where I stood. I guess he didn't hear me. I was out of hearing distance. He didn't even flinch to the sound of his name. He was turned away from me. Luckily, it seemed like he was paying attention to something on the floor, so he wasn't really moving.

This time close enough for him to hear, I asked him "Roxas, what are you doing here? What's with the normal clothes?"

I knew something wasn't right when he turned to give me a puzzled look. "Do I know you?" he asked.

My face dropped as I tried to study his expression. Was this a joke? No—he looked pretty serious to me. And here I thought today was going to be a good day. Did everyone else forget about me too? No, this morning Mom knew that I was her daughter.

"Yeah, you do!" I answered; frustrated that he didn't know who I was. Sure I blended in with everyone else in town and I was plain, but he looked like he didn't even recognize me a little bit!

"Well," Roxas began, thinking over his words. I… don't remember ever seeing you here, sorry." He walked away, leaving me standing there with bewilderment.

"Don't feel bad." A voice came from behind. He wore a black coat just like Axel and his hood covered his face. This _wasn't_ Axel. It didn't even sound like Axel's voice. "It seems he doesn't even remember anything from his past life with us."

Who was this person, and why was he talking to me?

"Xalden." Another voice called out from an open portal. "I _told_ you; I'll take care of this world and Roxas. You take care of that other world." Now _this _voice I recognized. His hood fell back, which proved that it was in fact whom I thought it was—Axel.

The hooded figure snickered as he made his own portal appear. "You shouldn't be telling me what to do; especially since you haven't been following your direct orders."

Axel's eyebrows furrowed at the hooded figure's comment. "Oh, I'm following my orders, but I'm following _my_ orders _my_ way."

With that, the hooded figure stepped through the black portal and disappeared. "Watch your back." His voice trailed behind him.

"Rei." Axel immediately called after his partner had disappeared. "Come here. I'll bring you home."

"But I just got out of my house!" I complained. There was nothing in that place and I wasn't just going to die from boredom.

"Look." One word was all it took to make me scared. His voice was unusually edgy, and he was as happy as the weather was this morning before he left! Should I follow him? Right now he seemed irritated. I didn't feel safe.

"What if I just decided to walk home? Y'know, I need to get my exercise… it's been a while since I actually moved around much." I asked, practically getting him even more pissed.

He raised an eyebrow at my daring question. "Why?" he asked, the edge in his voice getting stronger though could see he was trying to calm himself down. "You don't trust me anymore?"

"No, that's not true, but—"

"Then come on!" He had yelled that sentence so loud, I basically ran to him and took his hand out of fear of what he might do to me—not out of trust.

He gripped my hand so hard; I was starting to lose feeling. What was wrong with him? Did I do anything to make him mad?

Axel started to calm down as soon as we reached the safety of my room. He didn't grip me as hard and the aura no longer felt tense.

"What's going on?" I asked, barely a whisper.

Axel sighed and it was silent for a while.

"You might just be caught in the middle of this situation." He spoke after what seemed like decades. "Maybe it's best if you to know everything." The edge in his voice melted away. His voice had calmed and soothed me. He turned to me and I saw something I've never seen before. He gave me a soft expression, and expression with genuine _emotion_. "Do you _want_ me to explain everything?"

I nodded my head. All this time I didn't understand anything he said to me. I wanted to finally understand what was happening around me.

"Alright then."

I took a seat on my bed while took a seat on the chair that was by my desk.

"Okay… first of all," he started to say, "I'm going to start by saying that I have no heart, but I already told you this. No one in the Organization has one. We're called "Nobodies." We Nobodies are made and we don't get hearts. Because of the no heart thing, we don't feel any emotion either. We can't feel anything like happiness, love, pain, jealousy, or even anger."

Something inside me stirred as he said this. This still wasn't making any sense. He always seems to display emotions. "But….. if …if you can't feel emotion, how can you show emotion like you do?"

"We know how emotions _look_ like and _when_ to express them, but we just can't feel them. It's like knowing what pain looks like and having someone explain to you how much it hurts, but not actually getting hurt." His voice was calm the whole time he was explaining—unlike me.

So when he laughed this morning…that was just his acting skills in action. His feeling of guilt that he expressed when he picked up my munny was all acting too? When he looked relieved retrieve me from Destiny Islands—that was just his acting as well? It was all absurd. All of these "emotions" seemed to come so naturally to him. So…he was just a really good actor… My heart sank to the pit of my stomach as I realized my own feelings for him.

It was really stupid of me. It was pretty stupid to actually think that the way I felt towards him might have been….. love… Many teenagers assume that they fell in love, but it just turned out to be infatuation or a mere crush. Sure, he hasn't rejected me directly, but there was absolutely no way he could feel the same way. I might as well give up now. Dang it! Boy, did I ever pick the wrong person to develop an infatuation over.

"Rei? Are you okay?" A look of concern spread over Axel's face. Was that just an act too?

"Yeah. I'm fine, why?"

"Well…. There are tears falling from your eyes."

My hand instantly went to my face. Sure enough, they were wet from my falling tears. Man, was I really this pathetic? Embarrassed, I wiped the falling tears from my eyes. "It's nothing." I explained. "Just continue telling your story."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. Go on." My tears won't stop flowing! I keep on wiping them, but they won't disappear!

"Maybe you need some time alone to process your thoughts." Axel suggested.

"No!" I resisted the urge to get down on my knees and beg him not to go. I think I spent more than enough time on my own. I couldn't bear being left alone again. I wanted somebody, _anybody_ to keep me company—even if it meant hanging out with the guy who could never feel the same way about me. Even if he was the cause for my muddles thoughts, I still wanted someone to talk to.

"Okay, then. I guess I'm staying." He leaned back on the chair until his head tilted so far back he faced the ceiling.

I began to study the features of his face. Green beautiful eyes accompanied with thin red eye brows formed feminine features. His broad shoulder and jaw showed that despite his feminine features, he was indeed a man. His green eyes are what stuck out the most. They were so unique and contrasted well with his red hair.

"Hey? Is there something on my face, or what?" Axel questioned suspiciously, interrupting my thoughts.

"No….." I answered. "Why?"

"You were kinda staring at _something_, but I don't know what." He answered, giving me that familiar smirk that made my heart race. He probably already knew that I was staring at him.

"There's no point in knowing." I retorted.

"Fine, fine." He spoke lazily, leaning even farther back in the chair.

I swear, there is something really wrong with my feet. I just have no hand-eye coordination. While trying to walk back to sit on my bed, I stumbled on my _own feet_ and fell… … … … … … … … …on him.

We both gave out a yelp of surprise as he fell backwards on the chair and onto the floor. Axel slid off the chair and I landed on top of him and saw the look of shock on his face. Man, he must really be thinking lowly of me now. My heart was beating fast—I couldn't handle it. I tried to breathe in deeply to slow my heart rate, but it did no help. It wouldn't slow down since I was practically on top on him. I bet you're wondering why I didn't just stand up. I _couldn't_.

Axel had his arm tightly around my waist, so I couldn't move. His head was lifted off the carpet and it hung over my shoulder. I don't know why, but he was breathing heavily too. His other arm was wrapped around my shoulder, but it loosened and slowly came to the side to support his body.

"You okay?" His voice was soothing, as if he were talking to a baby who fell down while trying to learn how to walk.

"Y-yeah." I stuttered, amazed that I could even get out a word through all my deep breathing. "But I'm fine now, so you can let me go…."

"Hmmm…" He hummed in my ear. It sent shivers down my spine to feel his warm breath on my left ear. "I like your heart beat. It's kinda soothing." His hand released his hold on my waist.

He let go of me and I could feel that my heart was already calming down.

Axel, as soon as he let go, clutched his chest just right about where a normal person's heart was supposed to be.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Ow…" He muttered to himself. "Yeah. Nothing big. Maybe I got injured when we fell."

"Sorry." I was glad that he couldn't see my red face to add to my confusion. He probably thought I was weird and clumsy for falling on him, but at least he didn't care—well, he couldn't care since he couldn't feel any emotions.

"You sure?" I asked. "No bones broken."

"Of course not. It's not that big of a deal."

Even if he was the one causing me pain, I couldn't just forget about him.

He is someone special.

He is someone unique.

He is someone I feel I can trust.

He is someone I care for.

_He is someone I love._

'Stop stop stop!' I yelled inside my cluttered mind. This was stupid, stupid, and did I mention stupid? This wasn't _love_ at all! I couldn't be anything close to love!

_And with that last thought in mind…. My mind drifted off…._

**End of Chapter5**

* * *

_**Sorry… this took a while. I did plan on typing this right after last chapter, but hadn't seen this chapter in a while and I thought it was much much shorter. It turns out I thought that this was only six pages, but when I went to get the hand written copy, I realized it was eight pages (and I used to write extremely tiny) and I instantly became resistant to type this out; thus, the delay… There were also A LOT of markings on this chapter. It also turns out that in the past (like two years ago) I thought that some things didn't belong, but here in the present I debated if I should add it in or not. **_

_**I really wanted to finish typing out this story before school started, but with six more chapters to type out, I don't think that's going to happen… I'm really excited about the next chapter. It was the chapter I most enjoyed writing and things where the things get interesting… well to me they do, but for you it may be boring -.-…**_

_**I feel like I want to explain part of the story... but that might be spoiling O_o...**_


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